2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour: Final findings & summary

Jul 21, 2015

Tour wrap up

After nearly a month on the road and thousands of miles traveled, the 4^th annual Farms.com US Corn Belt Crop Tour has come to an end.

From June 26^th to July 11^th, Moe Agostino, Farms.com Risk Management’s Chief Commodity Strategist and his team started in Ohio and made their way through Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South and North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin before finishing off in Michigan.

Agostino ranked six observations from the tour as the most important.

American farmers did not plant all of the intended acres; and between 1 and 3 million soybean acres will not get planted due to excessive moisture
The excessive moisture caused farmers problems with side dressing and 7/10 admitted to applying less nutrients
Many crops are between 1 and 4 weeks behind
No record production on the horizon for 2015 and the USDA’s July numbers do not reflect the current conditions
East vs. West – East is too wet, but the West is not a garden
By July 11^th, 2014, 9 of 12 states had tasseled corn compared to only 4/12 in 2015.

Here are some other highlights from the tour:

Wheat, canola and barley were the best looking crops on the tour
For every good field there were seven or eight in bad shape
Wildfires from Western Canada were causing South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota to lose growing degree days
Very little disease pressure – only some striped rust in corn
Only in Melvern, Kansas could corn be pulled and counted

Join the conversation and tell us if you followed along on the Corn Belt Crop Tour. What is your reactions to some of the findings and highlights from the tour?

Video: Spring Planting Prep Just Got Serious… We NEED This!

Getting closer to planting season means one thing… it’s time to get EVERYTHING ready.

Today didn’t go exactly as planned—we thought we’d be hauling potatoes again, but instead we spent the day digging equipment out of the cellar, hooking up the grain drill, and getting tractors ready to roll. With wheat planting just around the corner, every piece of equipment matters.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a normal day without a few problems… dead batteries, hydraulic issues, and a truck tire that absolutely refused to cooperate. We tried everything—jump packs, bead bazooka, ratchet straps… and eventually had to bring out the “big guns” just to get things moving again.

But that’s farm life—adapt, fix, and keep moving forward.

We’re getting close to go-time. Wheat seed is coming soon, and planting season is right around the corner